Auckland International Airport is located in South Auckland, as well as several other places of interest, including the amusement park Rainbow's End, the Auckland Botanic Gardens and one of the oldest shopping malls in the country, now called Westfield Manukau City.

The area also contains the industrial heartland of Auckland (Mangere, Otahuhu and Manukau CBD), with workshops, factories and warehouses providing work for many Aucklanders.

Manukau City

Formed in 1965, is one of New Zealand's youngest cities, but contains one of New Zealand's oldest settled areas.

The diversity of Manukau City is reflected not only in the age of its many suburbs, but each suburbs unique style of living and housing.

Older settlements like Weymouth by the Sea, through to Mangere were formed in the early settlement days of the City's history and are complimented by modern, upmarket areas such as The Gardens and Hillpark.

The City boasts over 900 areas of open space (2,600 hectares), including parks, civic areas and streetscape valued at NZ$1 billion. 340,000 citizens make 26.9 million visits annually to our parks, some of the larger areas being the Aucklan Botanical Gardens in Manurewa and Barry Curtis Park in the heart of this to be formed Flat Bush Village, containing over 94 hectares, making it larger than the Auckland Domain.

Every year, council surveys residents on issues such as how people rate Manukau City as a place to live, work or do business in the level of satisfaction with the way the City looks and feels and their level of use and satisfaction with a range of council services.

The 2010 survey results say that 85% of residents rated Manukau as a good place to live, 72% say it's an excellent place to work and 74% think it's a great place to do business. Other findings include:

95% of residents feel safe in their homes during the day, with 87% feeling safe at home at night.

83% of residents visit their local town centre once a week, with 53% visiting more often. 87% are satisfied with the cleanliness of their town centre and 79% are satisfied with their town centre overall.

60% for residents feel it is easy to travel around the Auckland region and 78% find it easy to travel around Manukau.

If that was not enough, you can also click here to find out about our wonderful parks, beaches, reserves, walkways and heritage sites.

Papatoetoe

Central Papatoetoe is centred on Great South Road with a shopping mall at Hunters Corner, including underground parking, and the "Old Papatoetoe" shops at the western end of St George St. It is also close to the Westfield Shopping Centre at Manukau City.